Sulking
by Schingiuire
Summary: Her vampire pet finds itself bored and seeks to entertain itself with her presence. Integra fends off an attention hungry vampire.


Author's Note: I don't own Hellsing or any of the characters.

Integra sighed, finally setting her pen down, and replacing it with a cigar. Bringing it to her lips and lighting he, she rested back against the leather of her chair. It seemed as if she had been at work for hours, and undisturbed, with was odd for any evening. Though she was pleased to finally finish a pile of reports without Hellsing's vampire appearing in her office, it seemed a bit out of touch for such a creature of habit.

She leaned forward, pushing her chair back and standing to stare at each of the shadows in every corner. After careful observation of each one, Integra concluded Alucard was nowhere in her office.

Perhaps he was off sulking for not being allowed to kill the poor soul who jumped one of the fences to poach a deer.

Mostly, she allowed Alucard to make a meal of those who were able to sneak past the guards, and somehow find themselves near the estate, near enough to see things they should not. This one had only been a boy, and had collided with a drill unit practicing with Alucard. The boy was lucky to have met the human units, rather than Alucard, first. The vampire had immediately judged the intruder as a threat, and attacked, though the commander was able to hold the vampire off until Integra was contacted and the boy was detained.

Integra called Alucard off, though the vampire was still tense, and went so far as to become angry when she invited the scruffy boy into the manner and had Walter fix a small meal for him. Alucard had disappeared at that point, though Integra figured he was sulking somewhere in the basement.

She had found out who the boy was and sent him home to his parents hours ago, yet still the vampire did not show his face. This was fine with her, and she took his hideaway behavior as a blessing deciding to use the time to read and relax a bit now that the paperwork was finished for the night.

Integra made her way to the library, selecting a good book and settling herself upon an old leather couch that had been there for as long as she could remember. She had made it halfway through the third chapter when she felt the temperature in the room decline several degrees. Integra chose rather to ignore him, focusing her entire mind upon the story. Turning a page, she felt the couch dip beside her as Alucard sat. Of course his steps across the room made little to no sound at all, but she had lived with him for a decade, and knew how to tell where he was.

As usual, the vampire took little to no consideration for her personal space, and leaned his upper body against her shoulder. She assumed he was just trying to get her attention, it was a little game they played. She ignored him, and he did his best to solicit her attention without talking. A tantrum was still a tantrum, whether sound was made or not. To her mind, he was just a little child, screaming, "Look at me."

When she did not respond, Alucard slid down, resting most of his upper body across her lap, crushing her book in the process. Integra let out a loud sigh, nearly shoving him into the floor as she pulled her book free and continued to read, still working to ignore him, though having to work a bit harder.

Raising her book up a bit higher as Alucard rolled onto his back and settled himself over her lap, Integra turned another page, finally reaching chapter four. She lowered the book, setting it on the vampire's chest as she continued to read. Finally she smiled, though not looking at him or acknowledging that he was even lying across her lap.

"Are you done sulking now? Or are you starving for attention?"

He didn't move, though she felt his eyes burn into her skull. For a creature who saw himself as an aristocrat, he acted more like a spoiled child. It was that she treated him as such that she knew grated on his nerves.

"Why did you let him live? He could have been a spy."

"Or he could have been a normal teenager with no respect for other's fences."

"Why did you not let me teach him respect?"

"Because your lessons would have included his walking away missing a few of his limbs, or perhaps his life. Alucard, I refuse to have this discussion. If you're not done sulking, you will leave my presence."

Alucard fell silent for the moment, and she resumed her attention upon the book at hand. Integra left the book on his chest, leaning back slightly as she turned the pages.

"You let him into the house," Alucard commented five pages later.

"Contrary to your vampiric territorial beliefs, Alucard, this is MY home, and you just sleep here. You have no say whatsoever in who I let into the house, nor what I do in my house."

Again, he fell silent, and seemed to stay that way for at least another chapter.

"I want compensation for a meal you have taken from me," he announced.

Integra knew she had spoiled him, but it was the only way to get him to be docile and obedient without using the seal. She wondered how her ancestors had put up with his complaining, and surely he was hungry more often than not with them, as she remembered reading in Abraham's journals of Alucard's being starved into compliancy. Now, Alucard expected some form of a meal or treat every time he did something right, or when he thought he was denied something else. And true to his expectations, Integra found herself giving in at every turn, even if just to humor him in a false hope that he just might leave her alone for a few hours.

Integra sighed heavily, finally letting her eyes leave the pages of her book to meet the red gaze of her servant.

"That boy was never a meal for you to have in the first place, Alucard," she corrected him.

Alucard's gaze sharpened. She could see the pupils of his eyes lengthen into a reptilian fashion. No doubt the gears were swiftly turning within his skull.

"He was an uninvited intruder onto the Hellsing land, thus he was available for food," he stated, smirking slightly. He knew she had her trapped, and he knew she would eventually give in.

She raised an eyebrow at him, and then turned back to her book, tracing a finger over the page before finding where she had left off.

"I'll have Walter give you something extra then."

Alucard emitted a noise somewhere between a growl, and a scoff.

"I can get medial blood on my own, and feed myself until I fall asleep without hunger. I don't want veinless trash from a bag, I want yours."

They were both quiet for a moment, as Integra finished a paragraph, flipping the page once more. Alucard finally tired of having to compete with paper and ink for his master's attention reached up and plucked the book from his chest, snapping it shut and pushing it to the floor.

Integra didn't move at first, then let out another loud sigh and leaned back against the soft leather of the couch.

"I must have neglected you for quite a long time for you to be fighting a book over me." Her voice held a tinge of amusement, and she wondered how long they could both play this game before one of them snapped at the other and trouble started. Such trouble always ended with the vampire getting shot, and the master angry for several hours afterwards.

"I'm hungry," Alucard growled, ignoring her barb.

"Then go crawl into Walter's lap, or get it yourself. You know where the freezer is."

Alucard snarled again, glaring at her. "You took a meal that was rightfully mine!" he snapped. "I want payment for this."

Integra smiled, as one would smile at a child who does not fully understand a concept.

"How soon you forget, Dracula, that you have no rights here, nor do I owe you anything. I could retract your meals completely and you could do nothing about it. Would you rather I take that option?"

Alucard glared at her, but offered no retort. Integra couldn't help but smile again, finally looking down at him for the second time that night and reaching out with a hand to massage the top of his head with the tips of her fingers.

"You're not getting any of my blood tonight, nor any night soon. Now, are you going to get off me? I'm tired, and I would like to go to bed."

Alucard hissed at her, though didn't pull his head away from her petting.

Integra laughed at his glare and shook her head. She knew what he was thinking.

"And I do hope you are not expecting to crawl into my bed again tonight. You are a bed hog, and I don't want to wake up with some appendage of yours thrown over my head, or have you shove me off the mattress altogether. You have a coffin, use it."

Alucard scoffed again, his eyes flicking to the side, as he seemed to enter the deadly creature's version of a pout.

"I thought humans enjoyed when their dogs showed affection," he commented irritated.

Again, Integra laughed. "Normal human's dogs do not have a venomous bite," she retorted, then quite suddenly, wedged her hands under his back and rolled him into the floor. He landed with a grunt onto his stomach, and found himself the shelf for Integra to plant her feet as she stood from the couch then departed from the room.

"Goodnight vampire. And to be sure you don't get any other ideas, I'll be keeping a nice vile of garlic beside my bed. I'm sure you wouldn't want a mouth full of that while you slept."

She couldn't help but let her grin widen into her own version of Alucard's wicked grin as she listened to him mutter to himself in Romanian. She knew he hated the stuff, no matter how much he denied it; he still fled the kitchen every time Walter cooked anything that called for garlic.

Alucard left the library several moments after his master had departed. Sighing, he tilted his head back and gazed out of the nearest window to the sliver of a moon in the sky. He had just caught her in a bad mood. There was always tomorrow night.


End file.
